The present invention refers to a method for preparing a colloid solution of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in a solution of acrylic resin in organic solvent.
As known, solutions of acrylate-based polymers and titanium dioxide nanoparticles are used to produce polymeric films based on acrylate doped with titanium dioxide nanoparticles, through spin coating or evaporation techniques. Films of this type can be used for example in the production of optical devices, in opto-electronics (for example in making waveguides), in the production of rigid and thermoresistant transparent layers, in photovoltaics, in chemical sensors and in the field of biology.
Generally, the production of polymeric films doped with nanoparticles suffers from nanoparticle aggregation, said nanoparticles accumulating on the surface of the film due to the low affinity between polymer and nanoparticles (phase separation). Currently, the techniques used to obtain homogeneous films of plastic material doped with titanium dioxide nanoparticles are chemical in nature (use of copolymers) [1], functionalising the surface of the nanoparticles with different organic capping molecules [2], exploiting the photo-polymerisation of the plastic material starting from the constituent monomers with the addition of chemical additives [3], and in general the transparency is ensured to a large extent by the deposition of thin films (0.1-1 μm) and with low concentrations of the polymer (50 mg/ml). Although in the literature there are some examples of studies on this, an effective method capable of allowing a homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles inside a polymer has not yet been developed.